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Mabel Pye

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mabel Pye (9 April 1894 — 4 March 1982) was an Australian artist noted for painting and printmaking.

Mabel Pye
Born(1894-04-09)9 April 1894
Died4 March 1982(1982-03-04) (aged 87)
Canterbury, Victoria
EducationNational Gallery School
Known forPainting, Printmaking

Early life and training

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Pye was born in Box Hill in 1894 to Alice Eleanor Noar and her husband William Edward Pye who married in 1893.[1] She had a younger sister Hazel, also an artist, and their father built them a studio at the back of their Loch Street home in Surrey Hills, Victoria.[2] Her family was associated with amateur theatre group 'The Benwerrin Players'. [2] Mabel had to be rescued when swimming at Moon Bay near Black Rock when she was 19, which she visited with her family.[3] She studied at the National Gallery School with Adelaide Perry and Napier Wallace under Bernard Hall.[4] She studied drawing from 1912-1915, and painting 1915-1919.[5]

Career

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Working in watercolours and linocuts,[6] Pye painted landscapes, still-lifes, and portraits with bold colours and lines.[7] She was a member of the Victorian Artists Society from 1918-1941, and the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors, with whom she served on the committee with Esther Paterson, Ola Cohn, Jessie Mackintosh, Sybil Craig, Lina Bryans, and Violet McInnes.[8] As well as exhibiting with both societies she also protested to the Lord Mayor about destruction of trees on Alexandra Avenue.[9]

She was particularly noted for her ballet scenes.[10][11] As part of their training Russian student dancers were made to visit art shows,[12] and Pye painted impressions from memory of the Ballet Rambert, and was also a member of the Australian Ballet Society.[13] She was also known for landscapes,[14] painting atmospheric works of the Blue Dandenongs.[15]

She has works in the collections of State Library Victoria, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and the National Gallery of Victoria.

Death

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In later life she lived in Montrose and Olinda, and died in 1982 in Mont Calm, Canterbury.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Surrey Hills History". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Photograph - Pye and Stamford family members at 'Tanglewood', 12 Loch Street, Surrey Hills, c1916-1918 - Victorian Collections". 136.154.202.135. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  3. ^ "CAUGHT IN BACKWASH". Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954). 18 April 1914. p. 36. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  4. ^ "Pye, Mabel - Artists - Australian Art Auction Records". www.artrecord.com. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  5. ^ "Bushfire, 1930s by Mabel Pye". www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  6. ^ "Five art shows open this week". Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957). 17 October 1950. p. 4. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  7. ^ Bunyan, Dr Marcus. "Mabel Pye". Art Blart. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  8. ^ "Woman Painters". Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954). 17 March 1951. p. 5. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  9. ^ "ALEXANDRA-AVENUE TREES". Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954). 4 May 1935. p. 15. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  10. ^ "HORSES ARE STILL PAINTER'S THEME". Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954). 29 August 1949. p. 5. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  11. ^ "OLD MASTERS AND MODERN IN MELBOURNE ART SHOWS". Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957). 30 August 1949. p. 7. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  12. ^ "For Australian Women... "THE LIFE OF MELBOURNE". Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957). 31 August 1949. p. 8. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  13. ^ "The Life of Melbourne". Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957). 7 July 1948. p. 7. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  14. ^ "A WOMAN'S LETTER". Northern Herald (Cairns, Qld. : 1913 - 1939). 22 December 1926. p. 32. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  15. ^ "Artist And Teacher Of Distinction". Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954). 16 October 1950. p. 7. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
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